The Central Bank announced the closing of the sale of Otkritie Bank to VTB, and the European Commission banned lawyers from advising Russian companies on sanctions – these and other important news for Tuesday morning, December 27, in our daily review.

The Central Bank announced the closing of the sale of Otkritie to VTB Bank. The regulator specified that VTB had fulfilled its obligations to it to pay for Otkritie shares “in full.” VTB was to pay for the asset 340 billion rubles. “In accordance with the concluded agreement on the realization of PJSC Bank FC Otkrytie 100% of the bank’s shares were transferred by the Bank of Russia to VTB Bank (PJSC)”, – stated in the message.

European specialists are forbidden to provide legal services on sanctions to Russian companies, unless it is a question of appealing to the court, follows from the updated clarifications of the European Commission, which was familiarized by RBC.

Rusagro Group (MCX:AGRODR) has decided to place its global depositary receipts (GDRs) on a third-country exchange by summer 2023, leaving the London Stock Exchange. Timur Lipatov, CEO of Rusagro, told RBC in an interview.

This year the Central Bank’s forecast models required revision and refinement taking into account “new inputs”, including restrictions on capital flows, Central Bank Deputy Chairman Alexei Zabotkin told RBC. “Fundamental changes” in the economy have not occurred, but the role of expert judgments for forecast models has increased, said the interlocutor of the publication.

Chinese authorities will cancel the mandatory quarantine for all travelers entering the country, Bloomberg reported citing the statement of the National Health Commission of the country. Mandatory quarantine at the entrance to the country was introduced in early 2020. Initially, those entering China had to spend three weeks in centralized quarantine in a state-run facility. This period was later reduced several times, most recently in the fall of 2022 to five days of centralized quarantine plus three days of home quarantine. As of January 8, 2023, a negative COVID-19 test taken at least 48 hours prior to arrival will be sufficient to enter China.